Day 96: Just another day in paradise – vacation in Atlanta

When I go to a new place, I really like to do the tourist thing. I’m not afraid to admit it. If there’s a historic landmark, I want to see it. I’m especially interested in old homes and buildings and I’m lucky that Big Daddio is pretty good about going along with me. I don’t know how much he is really likes old buildings, but he LOVES tourist gift shops and going out for snacks after the outing so he’s usually a pretty good sport.

Since we had a little time between Final Four games we decided to do some sight-seeing. We weren’t very efficient about it – we were definitely slowed down by the huge crowds and traveling with a small baby. But the weather was beautiful and we had a good time.

The Margaret Mitchell House – apparently she called it “the dump”. Looks pretty nice to me!

On the second day of our trip, we decided to go back into the city and tour the home of Margaret Mitchell (author of Gone with the Wind) and the Botanic Garden. Both of these sounded interesting, so me, Big Daddio, Jordan and the baby started out (somewhat early) in the morning – well, I guess it was closer to the afternoon. We hopped on the MARTA and took the 15 minute ride to the Mid-Town station. This was one of the trips that I mentioned yesterday as being very full of boisterous basketball fans. This kind of thing can be fun, but not quite so much when you’re trying to push a stroller with a 6-week old baby. I wasn’t unhappy to get off that packed train.

We didn’t really drink any beer at the Hudson Grille, but look at all the options!

We walked a couple of blocks to the Margaret Mitchell house (here’s a link for more information: http://www.margaretmitchellhouse.com/). I’m including a picture of this historic landmark, but I have to be honest and say that we never made it inside. By the time we got there, we decided we were hungry and the baby needed to be fed and changed. This is why you don’t get too much sightseeing done with a baby (and Big Daddio). We went to a restaurant billed as “the best sports bar in Atlanta” – called the Hudson Grille. The food was good, but it was a probably a little too bar-y for a baby. The basketball fans (you just couldn’t get away from them this weekend!) all seemed to be having a good time.

Piedmont Park – a beautiful place and we ALMOST made it to the Botanic Garden

After that rather long stop, we walked on to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Well, kind of. It was a pretty long walk and both the baby and Big Daddio started to get kind of tired and cranky. So we actually only made it to Piedmont Park, which is apparently adjacent to the Botanic Gardens. The park was very nice and lots of people were out with their kids and dogs, which was no surprise because it was sunny and 75 degrees.

I would have liked to have seen the Botanic Gardens. They sound really interesting and I’ve included the link here: www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/. If you go to Atlanta and don’t have a small baby and a tired, hot husband I would recommend giving it a try!

So that is the story of our day of sightseeing. Even though it didn’t go just as planned, it was a good time and we saw some interesting things!